A seafood company is to introduce the first microwaveable fish fingers, it emerged today.

Young's Micro Fish Fingers, selling at 99p per pack of four, will arrive with major retailers this month.

The Grocer magazine said the development could be "the fast food breakthrough of the decade".

The company said it was trying to reinvigorate "that staple of frozen seafood - the fish finger".

It said in a statement: "The Young's Micro Fish Finger combines a unique new packaging technology with a traditional recipe that produces crisp fish fillet fingers from frozen in just three minutes.

"It's designed to make fish fingers even more accessible and appealing to anyone who already loves a fish finger butty - such as students and young adults.

"Supported with a marketing plan designed to highlight its snack potential, the Young's Micro product will also enable fish fingers to compete for the first time against other microwaveable snacks such as burgers."

Charlotte Broughton of Young's said: "The fish finger has been a traditional staple of frozen seafood for more than 50 years but it is also a category long overdue for some new thinking.

"The Micro version is a natural next step because it optimises all the obvious potential for fish fingers to compete in the market for nutritious quick snacks."

The company said its work to date on the reinvigoration of fish fingers had helped fuel 7% market growth in sales and taken Young's own brand share to more than 20% for the first time - up from just 8% two years ago.